


I'll Follow You to Hell, Even if We Don't Come Back

by End_Transmission



Series: Family's What You Make It [6]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Based off "Family's What You Make It" AU, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, No Smut, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pyro tries to write romance, Romance, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:26:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23718151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/End_Transmission/pseuds/End_Transmission
Summary: Vanessa Afton and Luis Cabrera have been through a lot together. What began as a close friendship has, somewhere along the way, grown into something more. Follow them through this collection of one-shots designed to highlight and play around with their relationship. Based in the 'Family's What You Make It' universe. One-shots not in order or meant to put together one complete story. Prompt requests encouraged. Further AU's outside of their canon story are very likely.
Relationships: Reluctant Follower/Luis Cabrera, Vanny | Vanessa | Reluctant Follower/Luis Cabrera
Series: Family's What You Make It [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1518800
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	1. First Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and welcome to 'Yes, Pyro has established a new one-shot collection.' Don't look at me like that.
> 
> The intent of this is to give me a place to explore the relationship between Ness and Luis, because I love them and I need the practice. Updates to this, as with all of my collections, will be scattered. It's probably not entirely necessary for you to have read the Family's What You Make It series, though it will help your understanding. Long story short:
> 
> (Spoilers for Family series below!)
> 
> Malhare possessed Ness and nearly replaced her entirely. Luis was pulled into the fold near the end, but was able to more or less free Ness from Malhare's control. Malhare was sequentially destroyed. Luis and Ness have been close friends since freshman year of college - they are both ~23 years old at this point.
> 
> Ness's full name is Vanessa Afton - she is the adopted daughter of Michael (Mike) Afton. Ness's degree is in Robotics.
> 
> A couple of little notes at the end. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy!

It was a slow change. 

Ness supposed that it actually wasn't  _ that _ slow, considering they'd known each other for some six years. In comparison, the months between the end of the Malhare incident and their becoming 'official' wasn't much time at all. It just  _ felt  _ like a slow change. Maybe because there was no one conversation, no 'Aha!' moment, no discussion of intentions or exclusiveness or any of that. 

It just sort of happened. Ness and Luis comforted each other a lot, in those early days of recovery. Even after Malhare was out of the picture, the two spent most of their time with each other. The days were filled with quiet conversations, desperate grasps, and hushed, soothing late-night whispers. As time passed, they found themselves laughing more, joking more, crying less - but still always close to each other. 

Somewhere along the way there developed a new  _ feel  _ to the way they held hands, or leaned against each other, or laughed at each other's jokes. Plans went from requests for company to presuming they would go together. Talks of the future became about 'us,' and although both of them noticed, neither of them pointed it out. 

They both froze in place the first time Mike asked if they'd had a good time on their date. He'd paused at their reactions, blinked, and then laughed. 

"Sorry, did I get it wrong? That's what I get for assuming…"

"No," It'd been Ness that answered. She'd paused and looked at Luis, who stared back at her in surprise. Then, he'd grinned widely. "No," Ness had continued, still smiling herself when she looked back at her dad, "you didn't get it wrong."

That wasn't when it really sunk in for Ness that this was their new normal. That came during another evening. Mike would be spending the night at the Arcade, so Ness and Luis were settling in to watch a collection of movies. It was a favorite pastime - they'd start with one they wanted to see, and then just keep watching until they fell asleep. Inevitably, they'd wake up spread in strange poses across the couch, the popcorn bowl on the floor and both of them disheveled by sleep. They weren't the most comfortable nights, but they served their purpose - a shared way to keep the demons of their own thoughts away. 

That night, they'd started with some straight to Blu-ray comedy, which turned out to be a bit of a dud, but it was light hearted enough that neither had bothered to turn it off. They'd turned, instead, to making fun of it. They took turns pointing out obvious flaws in the story, responding to each other with "It's just a movie," and mocking the characters and their predicaments. Maybe the movie wasn't the best, but they were having fun with it, and that was distraction enough. 

"Feeling more popcorn?" Ness asked during a particularly cringe-worthy scene. She leaned down to scoop up the bowl. 

"Sure," Luis agreed, shifting so she could climb to her feet. Ness stood and then, without even really thinking about it, leaned over and placed a quick kiss against the side of Luis's temple. She'd already turned to head for the kitchen by the time her actions caught up with her and she paused as her face flooded with embarrassed warmth. With a nervous swallow, Ness turned back to look at Luis again. He looked just as startled, and was staring back at her in turn, his mouth slightly agape. Ness waited, barely breathing, for him to say something - anything. She wondered the whole time if she’d just stepped over some invisible boundary. 

Finally, after leaving her hanging for what felt like an hour, Luis beamed. The happiness in his face spread through his eyes, and Ness could have sworn she saw them sparkle. Feeling the constriction on her heart ease, Ness smiled back. She didn’t have the effortless grins that Luis was so good at, but she felt the warmth in her own smile, anyway.

“You can bring more of those back, too,” Luis said.

“No promises,” Ness shot back. She turned for the kitchen, her face still warm but her heart soaring. She reveled in Luis’s heartfelt laughter as it followed after her. 

Ness supposed, if she had to actually pick a moment, that was the one in which her heart became irrevocably and absolutely Luis’s. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt requests are very much encouraged - I'd love to play with all sorts of AU ideas as well as simple ideas that fit into the canonical story.
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr at http://pyroweasel.tumblr.com for quicker updates, memes, and random-ass stuff no one asked for. That's also a great place to send in prompts - although the comment section here is just fine too. I also have a discord - hit me up if you'd like the link.
> 
> Thanks as always for reading.
> 
> End_Transmission


	2. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While it's not a surprise that Ness has plenty of nightmares of her own, it turns out she isn't the only one.

In the days and months and, even if she didn't know it yet, years following Ness's experience with Malhare, she would be plagued by nightmares. They'd fade with time, cropping up only on occasion instead of most nights, but they would never leave her entirely. She had nightmares of waking to find Malhare was still there and had been all along, or nightmares bordering on memories of the night she'd stabbed Luis, or others still where someone else was bleeding under hands - her dad or a child or sometimes even herself. 

Sometimes she woke alone, but usually Luis was there. Ness didn't know if he slept lightly around her, or if her nightmares made her loud, but he was always awake when she'd finally claw her way into the waking world. Sometimes they'd talk about it, but usually Luis would just smile, wrap his arms around her, and tuck her close. It was a simple gesture, but it always worked - Ness rarely had a second nightmare, those nights. 

As a deep sleeper, what Ness didn't realize until about a week after they moved in together, was that she wasn't the only one with debilitating nightmares. She discovered that one day, after Luis had worked a rare midnight shift and had gone to take a nap. Ness had been minding her own business, tapping away at a game on her Switch, when she heard a distant voice. She cranked the volume down and froze in place, heart pounding as she waited to hear it again - her thoughts immediately going to Malhare, as they often did when strange things happened. 

A few seconds later, though, Ness realized it was Luis. Thinking someone had called and disturbed him, she went to check - only to find him tangled tightly in the blanket as he begged in the face of some unseen nightmare. He was still muttering, but it wasn't until Ness got closer that she heard what he was saying. 

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Luis was all but chanting. As Ness sat on the edge of the bed, she realized his face was shiny with sweat, and he was biting his lip so hard it'd begun to bleed. 

"Luis," Ness said, scooting a bit closer and reaching to shake his upper arm. "Luis, wake up. C'mon, rise and shine. Luiiss." 

He woke with a start so violent that Ness couldn't help but jump slightly herself. Luis laid there for a moment, breathing heavily as his eyes quickly scanned around him. He went still when they landed on Ness - who promptly threw him what she hoped was a soothing smile. 

"Ness?" Luis asked, "you're okay?" 

"Just fine," Ness answered, "you worked a late shift, so you've been taking a nap. I've just been playing games - everything is a-ok." 

Luis nodded, the movement jerky. He pushed himself up, took another look around the room, then reached out and pulled Ness into a tight hug. He buried his face into the crook of her neck, and Ness immediately embraced him in return. 

"'m sorry," Luis muttered. Ness smiled, then lifted a hand and slipped her fingers into his hair, in order to scratch her nails softly down his scalp. 

"It's okay," Ness answered softly, feeling him relax under her attention, "it's in the past, and you saved me. It's okay." 

"Okay," Luis said with a sniff. They stayed there for a long while, saying nothing and just holding each other, while Ness continued to softly run her nails over Luis's scalp and neck. For a minute, she half wondered if he'd fallen back asleep just like that, but then he shifted and she realized he was still awake. 

"You should get some more sleep," Ness told him, "or you're only going to feel worse."

"Will you stay?" 

"Of course," Ness answered, "here." She untangled herself from him and scooted back until she was sitting against the wall. Then, she looked at him and patted her thigh. Without argument, Luis grabbed the blanket, and shifted to lay his head on Ness's thigh. He bundled the blanket up around himself - being sure that Ness could cover up her legs too - and sighed as he settled in. Humming softly, Ness tangled her fingers in his hair, and continued her ministrations.

Luis was asleep in minutes, and the rest of his sleep was undisturbed. 


End file.
